Register to perform at https://tapsforveterans.org/dday75
On June 6, 1944 Americans awoke to the news that landings had taken place in France. More than 150,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy in an assault (Operation Overlord) that was the largest seaborne invasion in military history and proved critical to the eventual defeat of the Third Reich.
Three American divisions landed on the beaches while two divisions of paratroopers dropped inland the night before the invasion. The Allied casualties figures for D-Day have generally been estimated at 10,000, including 2,500 dead. Broken down by nationality, D-Day casualty figures are approximately 2,700 British, 946 Canadians, and 6,603 Americans. By the evening of June 6, the beaches had been secured and the Allied Army was moving inland.
To commemorate D-Day and honor the American Soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice, a sounding of Taps will take on June 6, 2019 at 1900 (7 pm). Buglers and trumpeters will sound the Call of Remembrance -Taps. This event is sponsored by Taps For Veterans and the 100 Nights of Taps Gettysburg program and will coincide with the 7 pm service being held in Gettysburg National Cemetery where 11 Soldiers who fell on beaches at Normandy rest in honored glory.
Each bugler may select a special location to sound Taps. Preferably the ideal location would be at a WWII monument. But you may sound Taps at a WWII veteran’s grave, at an American Legion or VFW Post or in your back yard. You may also sound the call as part of a program held during the day. The important thing is to honor and remember those that gave of their lives on that fateful day.
We encourage all that sound the call at 7 pm to post their photos or videos to the Taps for Veterans Events Facebook Group at www.facebook.com/groups/236292303710432/ or via email to taps@tapsforveterans.org
Registration may be found at https://tapsforveterans.org/dday75
As a special Thank You, all registered participants that post a picture or video will get our new Taps for Veterans lapel pin.
Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force:
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.
The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory.
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory.
Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
-General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander SHAEF, June 6 1944
“The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge — and pray God we have not lost it — that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One’s country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.”
-President Ronald Regan on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day
“But it was here, on these shores, that the tide was
turned in that common struggle for freedom.
What more powerful manifestation of America’s commitment to human
freedom than the sight of wave after wave after wave of young men boarding
those boats to liberate people they had never met?
None of that would have happened without the men who were willing to lay down
their lives for people they’d never met and ideals they couldn’t live without.
None of it would have happened without the troops President Roosevelt called “the life-blood of America… the hope of the world.”
-President Barrack Obama on the 70th Anniversary of D-Day
Thanks so much for your participation
Jari Villanueva, Mark Paradis, Taps For Veterans
Wendy Allen, 100 Nights of Taps Gettysburg
